This invention relates generally to an educational toy for children. More specifically, the invention relates to a toy for small children which will have the appeal of a toy structure, but which at the same time may be made useful in teaching the child such things as the ability to count, letters of the alphabet, words, etc.
Other educational toys which attempt to accomplish the above purposes have been devised. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,459,321 to Johnson, and 2,680,306 to Moyer. However, these inventions have not been overly successful by virtue of either being complex, overly expensive, or not having the desirable and unique features of the present invention.
The Johnson patent discloses a flat block which has four wheel mounted thereto and a transverse recess such that the appearance of a vehicle with a seating compartment is given. A plurality of members can be joined laterally by use of the placement of a bar through the slots of the toy unit, the toy units being disposed side by side. On the top face of the blocks are printed indicia such as letters and numbers. In essence, Johnson discloses a mobile carriage with printed indicia thereon. There is no tactile graphic block in the form of an alphabet letter or number disclosed, let alone one connected to the flat vehicle block. Nor would the inventor desire such due to his concern with the flat block looking like a vehicle. Further, the Johnson toy units are rigidly connected to one another in side by side relationship as opposed to being pivotally connected in longitudinal alignment such that a train can be simulated. The Moyer invention discloses a vehicle toy in the form of a truck having a bed in which various non-uniform non-tactile members can be placed. On these blocks are printed numbers such that the combination of blocks can be totaled into a corresponding sum. A mechanical computing mechanism associated with the blocks indicates the sum corresponding to the blocks placed in the bed of the truck. Again, this invention does not use graphic tactile blocks. In addition, it is limited to numbers only, i.e. computation. Significantly, this is a singular toy unit, i.e. a truck, which is not coupled to any other such unit. The truck is a four wheeled vehicle.
Previous inventions have been disclosed which utilize tactile letter blocks. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,270,452 to D'Elia discloses a sign (not a toy) with interchangeable characters. However, this sign is not intended to be mobile and no carriage structure is accordingly disclosed which would connect to the graphic blocks. It should also be noted that the connection between the letters is a rigid one.
Train-like toys, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,383,441 to Beile, have been disclosed in the prior art. However, this toy is designed for a constructional purpose as opposed to the teaching of the alphabet, words, arithmetic, etc. by the use of a plurality of toy units, each comprising a mobile carriage with a graphic block connected thereto and a coupling means such that the unit can be coupled together to indicate various relationships such as words, equations, etc.